Even though we had high hopes for a winter garden this year, our dream came to a tragically beautiful end a few days ago. We had been keeping our eyes on the Dallas news stations as snow began to fall, and fall … and fall. I had to admit that when the weatherman said some areas were going to receive up to a foot, I actually felt snow envy.
We are about an hour and 20 minutes southeast of the Dallas area. As the Dallas/Ft. Worth area was becoming a Currier & Ives postcard, we were becoming an ice-cold rainy mess. I cursed the weather report and told my cowboy artist that I would gladly trade this horrible, muddy ice cold rain for a few inches of snow. The “jazz hands” weatherman (we named him that long ago because of his absurdly exaggerated hand movements and overly excitable personality) kept pointing out the fact that the big snow event was going to miss our area and head further northeast.
No snow day for us, or so we thought. Oh, a few big flakes and some ice pellets hit our metal roof throughout the evening, but we were convinced it would all be gone by morning. The last radar report before bed showed the snow line well above our area and heading off where it was supposed to go.Â
I woke up early the next morning and listened to the silence, no early morning traffic along the road, no bellowing from cattle, not even our roosters were crowing their morning hello to the day. I jumped out of bed and looked across the frozen landscape and was sure that I had woken possibly back East, not East Texas. Our rain gauge was no longer measuring rain, it was completely covered by SNOW!!
Our winter challenged garden was now officially declared a disaster area, but instead of cursing Mother Nature – we embraced it, savoring a little slice of winter wonderland, if only for a day or two. We spent the morning enjoying the quiet whiteness, giving extra feed to the animals, walking through my cowboy’s family cemetery and enjoying this peacefulness that only a snow blanketed landscape can provide. It was a magical day.
This Tuesday they are forecasting another snow storm for northeast Texas. Surprise me Mother Nature! Even though it causes disruption of the farm routine and a little more work later, I’m secretly keeping my fingers crossed that we get another Currier & Ives moment.
